Jesse J. Maddox

Maddox went to law school thinking he’d become a corporate attorney. But early on at his first law job he was asked to help defend a prison guard accused of wrongdoing. He soon changed his specialty, and has since taken on several cases defending law enforcement officers.

But Maddox added that specializing in employer defense, he has the mindset that he starts each case already needing to make up ground.

“I think that litigating on behalf of employer, and especially public agencies, we start from behind, especially with juries,” said the partner with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore in Sacramento. “When you start a jury trial, they identify with the plaintiff more. Almost everyone has been an employee, but only a few people have owned a business.”

In response, the veteran of more than 50 employment cases said he tries to get the jury to understand the employer’s perspective. This sets the stage for telling a different story about what happened.

In one recent case, he and his team opted to try a risky strategy that focused on the bias they said was shown by the plaintiff. The City of Stockton had fired a pregnant woman who had been hired to implement the Stockton’s Operation Ceasefire program. Glynn v. City of Stockton, 15-CV00529 (E.D. Cal., filed March 9, 2015).

They focused on comments the plaintiff had made about her boss’s Mormon faith. This helped level the playing field and made it easier to go into the plaintiff’s work history. They won a unanimous defense verdict.

“By preparing witnesses and making them as identifiable as possible, you make it more personal so the jury understands there are real people involved, making the best decisions they can using their judgment,” Maddox said. “It’s not just some greedy corporation or governmental entity.”

Many of the proceedings in employment law take place outside the public eye, often in administrative hearings. But the whole employment law specialty is having a moment, Maddox added, particularly the public sector.

“Public agencies flew under the radar for a long time,” he said. “It’s kind of all hitting at once.”

— Malcolm Maclachlan